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07/23/2011

this picture is proof that my baby will be a toddler in a few short weeks. this realization hit me hard today, but i can't say i'm upset about it. i am so excited for everything her second year has in store for us. she is talking and mimicking our words more and more with each passing week. she is getting up the courage to stand on her own for a few moments at a time. i know walking is not far behind. she is independent as always, but is learning that snuggling with me is also a perfectly acceptable way to pass the time. her hair is getting longer. her frame is thinning out as she becomes more mobile. she has teeth. she has preferences for books, toys, videos and songs. she dances. my heart dances with her. she grows. my heart grows with her. i cannot wait for her to be my toddler, but she will always be my baby.

07/21/2011

the food world has been abuzz lately with a new policy put in place by mike vuick, the owner of mcdain's casual dining restaurant in monroeville, pennsylvania. that policy? no children under the age of 6 allowed. ever. under any circumstances. as a parent of a young child and a lover of food and going out to eat, i feel compelled to comment.

1. just who the fuck (yes, i know. i have never used this word here, but this issue has my blood boiling.) do you think you are, mike vuick? mcdain's is NOT some pretentious, upscale fine dining establishment. their $12.95 beer battered chicken special, which is essentially a giant glorified chicken finger, is proof of that. mcdain's does not exactly strike me as a coat and tie, quiet candlelit dinner sort of joint.

2. the banning of children begs the obvious question of who is next, mr. vuick? you will not serve young children because of the few who are loud and ill behaved in restaurants. will you next ban foreigners because of the few who don't tip well? if enough white customers complain, will you ban minorities? it is a slippery slope.

3. this is just bad business. plain and simple. by banning children, you effectively ban their parents. nursing mothers, those who cannot afford a sitter on top of a meal out, and those who ENJOY THE COMPANY OF THEIR CHILDREN will choose to eat elsewhere. monroeville will contain an entire generation of people who never grew up eating at your restaurant, who have no memories of it or attachment to it. people long for the dishes, tastes and experiences of their youth when they eat. just watch the first 60 seconds of this video. animated or not, THIS IS WHY PEOPLE CHOOSE TO EAT WHAT THEY EAT.

i fancy myself a foodie (foodist? fouchebag?) of sorts, but the other day i bought white bread, american cheese and campbell's condensed tomato soup just to recreate my favorite childhood meal. my favorite restaurant at which to eat when i visit my folks is not some new, trendy place downtown. it is the small, slightly run-down, local place where i grew up eating. it is the place that serves the old standbys of duck with orange sauce and escargot. it is the place that poured my coke into a stemmed wine glass and, at 7 years old, made me feel like the most important person in the room. i cannot wait to bring my daughter there.

4. the issue is not the child, it is the behavior. danny meyer, a rather large name in the hospitality industry says it best: "If a child misbehaves or is a distraction, it's the parents' responsibility to remove them; if they don't, they are the ones with bad manners, not the kids. And if an adult misbehaves or drinks too much or annoys the other diners, it's the manager's job or the owner's job to address it. The issue isn't kids, it's behavior." the quote is from this article on time.com.

this, again, begs a different question. how can one expect a child to learn to behave in a restaurant if that child isn't given the chance? from the same time article: "If children aren't taught how to behave in a restaurant, and are just given chicken fingers everywhere they go, they'll never learn about food and they'll become obnoxious, rude patrons as adults."

as a young child, i went out to eat all the time with my parents. it was in restaurants that i learned to say "please" and "thank you" to my server. it was in these establishments that i learned how to sit still and behave. i learned how to relate to and speak to people much older than myself. i learned to LOVE food and the full sensory experience of eating a delicious meal in a public place. these experiences helped shape me into who i am today.

my daughter will grow up in restaurants. it is an unavoidable part of having a father in the fine dining industry. and i do mean FINE DINING. there is nothing "beer battered" at his place of employment. i expect her to learn how to conduct herself. danny meyers is correct, it is MY responsibility to teach her proper dining behavior and to remove her if she becomes disruptive. just as it would be mike vuick's responsibility to remove a drunken and disorderly patron.

i think the parents are the problem here. if your child has skipped his/her nap that day and is particularly fussy, eat at home. order take-out from the restaurant you had planned to go to. cook something. save yourself and others the stress of having a loud, clearly upset child present. don't wait until your kid is hungry to leave. be at the restaurant 15-20 minutes before your child's usual mealtime. if this isn't possible, feed your child a snack or a smaller dinner at home and then finish the meal out. and PLEASE don't bring a separate meal from home. servers are used to cleaning up the restaurant's food, but they will begrudge you the cheerios smashed into the floor. if your child's behavior is, despite your best efforts, out of your control then ask for your meal to go, tip well, clean up the mess and LEAVE. be respectful of the fact that people are paying their hard-earned money to eat out. you expect them to be respectful of the fact that this dinner out is the closest thing you've had to a night on the town in months. again, MANNERS and BEHAVIOR are key here. if you expect respect, show respect. know your child's limits.

now, i know some people have said that so-called "kid friendly" restaurants exist for a reason. if you want to eat out with your young children, go to t.g.i. mcfunsters (i have mr. bourdain to thank for that one.), crapplebees (that one's all me.) or some other such place. UM, NO. i don't want to eat there. i believe that the quality of the food is important. until more big chains jump on the local, organic, sustainable bandwagon, i'll keep eating elsewhere. i don't cook hormone-riddled beef for my child at home so why would i pay twice as much to have her eat it somewhere else? no thank you.

TANGENT IN 3, 2, 1...: you know, monroeville, pennsylvania is known as the place where the original "dawn of the dead" was filmed. the mall in which 90% of that movie takes place is, you guessed it, the monroeville mall. true story. no, i didn't google anything about monroeville. i just KNEW that little tidbit. isn't my knowledge of useless things astounding? NOW, back to the issue at hand. for me, what is really boils down to is this: i don't want my family status to be the deciding factor in where i can and cannot eat. just as i wouldn't want my race or religion to do the same. the whole thing feels decidedly berlin 1939 to me. is this a stretch? maybe. but i can't help but shake the feeling that this could lead to some real harm for the restaurant industry. it is an industry i love and have worked in. it is the livelihood of our family. i would hate to see one bad apple ruin the bunch.

what say you, readers? are you for or against mcdain's no children policy? i would love for your to voice your opinion in the comments!

07/19/2011

after promising to be a better blogger, i let this space stay stagnant for over a week again.

sylvie has been sick this week. really sick. she whined and screamed all day and barely slept all night for 5 days in a row. after a few days of general malaise, she sprouted a nasty rash on the tops of both feet. it quickly spread to her shins and knees.

we didn't call the pediatrician at first because she didn't have a fever and the rash didn't seem to bother her. yesterday the rash looked 10 times worse and it was clear she was uncomfortable. she did the most pathetically cute crawl to try and scratch her legs on the carpet. adorable and sad. after almost losing my mind for the better part of a week, i called our new pediatrician. he diagnosed her with hand foot and mouth disease. her hands and face have stayed rash free, but her throat is awfully red and raw. since HF&M is a virus, we can only treat it symptomatically. this means lotion and oatmeal baths for the itching, a little tylenol and homemade popsicles for the throat pain, and a bit of benadryl at bedtime. after just one day of this, she seems much better. i can happily say that she was back to her smiley, sweet self today for the first time in almost a week. i think we are through the worst of it. thank goodness!

sylvie's sickness ate up all of my free time for the week. my post-bedtime evenings were non-existent. i have A LOT of catching up to do to get ready for her 1st birthday party. it's less than 3 weeks away! AHH! the pressure is on. fo' real! on top of that, i have a few illustration projects in the works. i'm also trying to get our house looking just so before a bunch of family and friends show up in a couple of weeks. my best friend is coming down to visit for the party and will be staying with us. we would love to get our living room curtains hung and finish the bit of painting we have left before then. travis has the day off tomorrow and has graciously offered to take sylvie out for a daddy daughter day so i can get stuff done. i can't wait to cross a bunch of items off of my to-do list. i swear it's about a mile long.

07/08/2011

today you are 11 months old. one month shy of a year. our day was uneventful and leisurely. i love days like this. you woke up just after 8 this morning, ready to face the day after a full night's sleep. your daddy fed you a banana for breakfast and you ate the entire thing! after breakfast it was time to do some yard work in the baby bjorn. you got strapped in and hung out with your daddy while he watered our azaleas, shrubs, and the grass. it wasn't yet oppressively hot when you finished helping daddy so we played with bubbles on the front porch for a while.

after that it was time to wash the bubbles and banana off of you before nap time. once we got you cleaned up, i made a bottle while your daddy rocked you. you slept peacefully from 11:30-2. while you napped we did some housework and some laundry. you didn't miss much. when you finally woke up, we were all hungry as could be. your daddy and i decided to take you out for macaroni and cheese to celebrate your big day. i think you were still full from that huge breakfast because you didn't eat much.

when we came home from lunch we spent some more time on the front porch blowing bubbles. you adore bubbles. you also spent a fair amount of time exploring and climbing the step.

before long it was time for your daddy to leave for work. you and i were so hot and sweaty from playing outside that i decided to head over to uncle mike's house for a swim. you just love the pool. you splash, laugh, kick and even stick your face in the water. all that playing sure does wear you out! after swimming and visiting with your uncle mike, it was dinner time. we came back home and you ate a tray full of roast chicken, peas, cherry tomatoes, kale, whole wheat pancake, and carrot dill salad.

once you were all done eating, i put on your sesame street dvd for you. you stayed content in your highchair while i tidied up. before long it was time for bath number 2. you had sunscreen, pool water and tomato bits that needed to be washed off before bed. after your bath came naked time. it is your favorite time of the day. every night you get to explore and play in just a diaper until bed.

an hour passed and you were rubbing your eyes and whining for your bottle. i gave you a dose of camilia (your homeopathic teething remedy) and got you dressed in your pajamas. speaking of teething, your second tooth appeared out of nowhere yesterday. you now have both bottom middle teeth! i hope a little bit of time passes before tooth number 3 makes its way through. 2 teeth in one week was rough on all of us!

once you were warm in your jammies, we snuggled into the rocker to read a few of your favorite books. before long you whined to let me know you were done with reading for the night and i got up to make your bottle. your bottles are 1/2 whole milk right now as we wean you off of the formula for good. you don't seem to mind the difference. you drank the whole 9 ounces in no time flat and closed your eyes. i rocked and bounced you for a few moments until you got really sleepy. i laid you down in your crib and snuck out of your room. a few moments later i heard some noise coming from your bedroom. you were up and playing in your crib! tricky baby. as soon as i picked you up again you shut your eyes and snuggled close. 5 minutes of rocking later and you were down (hopefully) for the night at 7:45. right on schedule.

this was a typical day for our family. i wanted to record it here to let you know what your life was like at 11 months old. it is so much fun to spend everyday with you as you crawl, stand, splash, climb, play and explore. you are independent, strong, curious, and a bit reckless. you are perfect and i am truly blessed to be your mama. i love you, baby girl.

07/05/2011

so much has happened since we moved here a month ago. travis is loving his job and is finally out of the training portion. 3 weeks at minimum wage was tough on our little family, but we made it through just fine.

sylvie will be 11 months old in three short days. i skipped her 10 month letter in june and i vow not to let that happen again this month. i've been somewhat burnt-out on blogging this last month. the mom blogging world has been a large part of my day-to-day for a year and a half now, and i think i've become a bit jaded with all of it. i look around and everything is a popularity contest. you may or may not have noticed that i didn't solicit any votes during top baby blogs' last quarterly reset. honestly, i have no interest in TBB anymore. i will leave my blog listed and leave the button there should you care to vote, but i have no desire to beg for votes. sure, my apathy has knocked me back a few pages, but i'm okay with that. it would be quite hypocritical of me to poo-poo popularity contests and then beg for votes to the biggest one. all of my burnt-outness and jadedness aside, i want to be a good blogger again. i really do enjoy it. i still want this to be a happy record of this time in our lives for sylvie to look at when she's older. this is her baby book, and i have no desire to stop recording our memories here.

here's a memory for you: on june 30th sylvie cut her first tooth! i was beginning to think my toothless wonder baby would grow into a toothless wonder adult, but her bottom left pearly white finally popped through. and it only took 11 months! she is enjoying using her new tooth to scrape the skins off of tomato pieces and to pop the kernels off of corn on the cob.

yesterday we celebrated sylvie's first independence day with a cookout and pool party at my brother's house. it is so good to have family close by. she was so tired after a day full of swimming and eating that she fell asleep for the night at 6pm! that's 2 hours early! she looked awfully cute in her red, white and blue dress travis' mom bought for her.

it was nice to dress her up yesterday. it's been so hot lately that she spends most of her time in just a diaper or a onesie at most. she's such a summer baby!

i also made an exception for this sweet vintage romper that my blog buddy (and fellow texan), LINDSEY sent sylvie as part of our welcome to texas package.

the package was such a sweet surprise and included homemade pepper jelly, corn salsa and hibiscus tea. thank you, lindsey! check out her blog and enter her awesome custom silhouette giveaway! so cute!

this week also saw sylvie's first (very hot and sweaty) trip to the houston zoo with our new friends katie and nick and their baby girl amelia. sylvie napped in her stroller almost the whole time. the heat did me in too, and i crashed for an epic 3 hour nap when we got home.

this month has been good. we have been spending everyday together with our skin smelling of sunscreen, salt water, and sweat. summer is off to a glorious start in texas!

once again, thank you for continuing to read despite infrequent, often too-short posts. i appreciate every single one of you from the bottom of my heart.

06/28/2011

06/19/2011

i think the media often portrays fathers as blithering idiots, incapable of doing anything and scared of their own children. you prove all of these stereotypes wrong. you are capable, kind, and patient with sylvie. you don't dread time alone with her, you relish in it. the way you balance time with us, work, and studying amazes me. i love how responsible, practical, motivated and nurturing you are all at once. i love how hard you work to give us all of what we need and most of what we want. thank you.

nobody makes sylvie laugh the way you do. you know just how to get her giggling no matter what her mood. she lights up whenever you walk into the room and immediately reaches for you to pick her up. it brings me infinite joy to watch the two of you together. she and i are truly blessed to call you our own. thank you.

i am sorry that this first father's day can't be filled with heaps of presents for you to show our gratitude, as moving ate up all of our money. i know you don't care about that stuff, but i wish i could do more for you this year. you do so much for us everyday. i will do my best to make this day special for you, and to bring you as many moments of joy as i can. you bring us so much joy everyday. thank you.

thank you for being the most amazing father and husband two girls could ever hope for. thank you for your seemingly unending patience, even on those days when sylvie and i are both tough to be around. thank you for all that you do and all that you are. we love you so much. happy first father's day!

06/16/2011

06/12/2011

i am so tired, and i haven't felt like blogging as a result. moving is always stressful, but that's not why i'm so exhausted. my tired is the good kind. the kind that comes from spending everyday putting together our home, hanging out with family and eating meals on the front porch. our days have been full and haven't left much time for blogging. i will try to snap out of it and get back to posting regularly. i've missed writing down accounts of our days and editing pictures. for now, here is a little bit of what we've been up to.

auggie found his new sleeping spot:

our backyard at dusk:

we've been eating breakfast on our front porch every morning:

here is sylvie wearing a (clean) swim diaper as a hat and giggling:

a peek at sylvie's nursery:

the kiddo corral where sylvie played while we unloaded boxes and unpacked:

swimming with my water baby and my nephew:

our front porch set up:

a vintage wooden pull toy my mama sent me:

my sleepy boys:

there's a lot more coming! i hope to post a full house tour when everything is all done, but who knows when that will be. sylvie's nursery is the one room that is pretty much finished. i would like to post a tour of that later this week. it is my favorite room in our house by far. i love spending time with her in there. for now i am going to spend some time with travis. he starts work tomorrow and time together will be tougher to come by. i'll be back soon! i promise. for more frequent updates and pictures, you are welcome to follow me on twitter.